DMG is located at 13 Monroe St. (between Catherine & Market Sts) in a basement below a small gallery. Take the F train to East Broadway or the 6 train to Canal or the B or D to Grand, or the M-15 bus to Madison & Catherine. Come on Down, the Sunday Music Series is Always Free & the Vibes are Always Cosy

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KAZE With NATSUKI TAMURA / CHRISTIAN PRUVOST / SATOKO FUJII / PETER ORRINS - Atody Man (Libra/Circum 204; Japan/France) Kaze features Natsuki Tamura & Christian Pruvost on trumpets, Satoko Fujii on piano and Peter Orrins on drums. The ever-prolific Satoko Fujii continues to release many disc and runs or collaborates with several ongoing projects. The 1/2 Japanese/1/2 French Kaze unit is more of a democratic quartet with no actual leader. This is their fifth superfine disc and they have remained a favorite of the many projects that Ms. Fujii and Mr. Tamura are involved in. All four members of Kaze have contributed 1 or 2 pieces and each piece is very different. “Hypnotique Sympathie” (by Mr. Orins) opens with both trumpets playing similar, simmering drones, somber yet somehow disorienting. Ms. Fujii creates suspense by slowly plucking strings inside the piano as the trumpets and percussion swirl in circular waves above and below the waves. Both Mr. Tamura and Mr. Pruvost are master trumpeters who are forever exploring textures and creating rich harmonies. They were incredibly well together and seem to anticipate and complement each other no where they go. Many of these pieces are long and filled with different sections, sometimes things break into duos or trios, stretching time out and carefully weaving several strands together. “Meta-Blizzard” begins with haunting sounds of rubbed piano strings, squeeze dolls, lower case (radiator hissing) trumpet sounds and minimal percussion. Soon both trumpets start playing those tight written complex lines together building up and then calming down to a quiet, spacious section. This disc is nearly 70 minutes long and is consistently engaging throughout. Another contender for best of the year! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG CD $16

SATOKO FUJII - Solo (Libra 201-046; Japan) "Any solo performance in any discipline-oration, gymnastics, stand-up comedy, music-walks a line between ho-hum and outstanding, between masterful and magnificent. For the pianist, the solo show offers a daunting challenge, and potentially the greatest reward. Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii takes the alone-at-the-keyboard challenge with the first disc in a proposed "one CD release per month" celebration of her sixtieth birthday. The disc is entitled simply: Solo. "Contemplative" is a word that comes to mind on the first spin of the disc. Considering Fujii's extensive discography, that's not always the case. Her orchestral outings (Nagoya, Tokyo, New York, Berlin) can ring cataclysmic and chaotic-though it's a chaos that often gels into serene beauty, spiced with lilting melodic interludes. Her group Kaze...get too close to the speakers and it can take the enamel off your teeth. As the music plays out on Solo, the relatively straightforward beauty and allure intersects with the burstings of brittle, breaking glass splashes, the culminations of gathering momentums. An oddly flattened, percussive left hand bumps in with a beat that sounds like a like a resonant pulse. Fujii's discography is too vast and varied for the tagging of it with a signature sound. Solo, more so than her other solo affairs-Sketches (Libra Records, 2004), Invisible Hand (Cortez Sound, 2016); or any of her numerous ensembles for that matter-deals in beauty, delicacy of touch, graceful melodicism. Not that noise doesn't factor in. Fujii loves pure noise. This is, after all, someone who complimented a woman who dropped a cell phone on the floor during a musically spacious moment in a Satoko Fujii Ma-Do concert by saying, in all sincerity: "I liked that sound you made!" Noise: she opens "Getadeus," the second track of Solo, with what could be mistaken for the addition of electronics, a short circuit, a sizzling hot wire humming behind the drywall. It's not; it's Fujii working her unique sorcery inside the piano, moving from electro-buzz to, on the next tune, "Ninepin," tolling tubular bells. And one slice of the genius of Fujii is that these brief sonic anomalies find fitting space inside the improvisational, neo-classical loveliness of her effort. Is this Fujii's best? It's hard to say. Maybe. She makes a lot of music. It certainly competes with Chun (Libra Records, 2008) and Muku (Libra Records,2012) as her most beautiful. Magnificent."-Dan McClenaghan, All About JazzCD $16

SANDY EWEN / WEASEL WALTER - Idiomatic (Self-released; USA) "Almost 80 minutes of jarring, surreal, raw improvised music by the duo of Sandy Ewen (guitar) and Weasel Walter (drums & live electronics) captured on this clear, powerful studio recording. Each musician speaks a distinctively deconstructed language on their respective instrument and their interaction is often surprising, always relentless and subtly alien. Sandy Ewen's approach eschews the obligatory mounds of effects pedals (save volume and panning) many guitarists use, instead concentrating on direct physicality, extended techniques and non-standard approaches using various simple preparations made with ordinary objects. Weasel Walter's articulate, fleet drumming aims to constantly disrupt continuity, creating chaotic scaffolds of focused illogic, and his use of simple live electronic processing blurs the roles within the soundscape. This is fast-paced musical Modernism in action by two unique voices in modern improvisation." Last year, Weasel Walter, left us with a triple CD of what I initially though was solo drums. It turned out that there was a lot more going on since Weasel also plays percussion, guitar & samples and has become a great engineer, mixer and producer. That triple CD turned out to be one of underground favorites of the year at DMG. Again, Weasel has just left us with a duo with former Texas-born, now Brooklyn-based guitarist Sandy Ewen. Ms. Ewen was first introduced to us here at DMG with a great trio disc with Damon Smith (bass) and Weasel Walter. Ms. Ewen with plays the guitar laying on her lap, horizontally. Most of the time it is hard to tell exactly what she is playing since she is often manipulating the strings with objects. Weasel Walter is a perfect partner since he has a never-ending thirst for sonic explorations. In a blindfold test, many of us would guess Derek Bailey (guitar) and Hugh Davies (home-made electronics) from the late sixties/early seventies, a style once known as “insect music”. The results here show that this music is both alien sounding yet somehow fascinating and in a world of its owns. This is experimental music at its best, focused, engaging and often mind-blowing. Sandy Ewen has been playing around locally over the past year and will be hear at DMG sometime in the near future. Don’t miss a chance to check her out. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG CD $14

MIN XIAO-FEN - Mao, Monk and Me (Blue Pipa BB 009; USA) Featuring Min Xiao-Fen on pipa, ruan, sanxian, cymbals & voice. Chinese pipa virtuoso, Min Xiao-Fen, has continued to evolve as a musician, starting with traditional Chinese and playing classical (ancient to modern) music as well. Starting with John Zorn, Ms. Xiao-Fen has collaborated with Derek Bailey, Leroy Jenkins, Ned Rothenberg and Randy Weston. More recently, she has released a couple of discs of her own. For her new disc, Ms. Xiao-Fen has taken the music of Thelonious Monk (in celebration of his 100th birthday)and added her own spin.Besides the pipa (a 4 string Chinese lute), Ms. Xiao-Fen also plays the ruan (a lute with fretted neck) and sanxian (3 string fretless shamisen). Commencing with “Ask Me Now”, Ms. Xiao-Fen plays the central melody, bending certain notes exquisitely and then taking off with quick currents of flourishes. Marvelous! On an original song called “Spring is Coming”, Min adds several layers of odd voices, sounding like different characters interacting in a play while playing a groove underneath. “San”, which means three in Chinese, is based on Monk’s “Raise Four”. Although the melody is more restrained and memorable, Ms. Xiao-Fen takes off spinning an elegant web with waves upon waves, eventually using a slide or her fingers to band notes inside-out. Ms. Xiao-Fen blends Monk’s “Children’s Song” with a Chinese folk song, using her own enchanting voice(s) from childlike to ghostly, with several characters providing different spirits. Min does a fine job on “Monk’s Dream”, balancing pipa, strange vocal sounds and percussion in between fragments of Monk’s melody. Ms. Xiao-Fen saves the best for last by doing a version of “Misterioso”. Starting out slowly and tentatively and then picking up speed and steam, erupting intensely to long, exhilarating conclusion. There are several currents found on here simultaneously. It will take some to fully absorb all of the riches found within. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG CD $14

YUKO FUJIYAMA With GRAHAM HAYNES / JENNIFER CHOI / SUSIE IBARRA - Night Wave (Innova 995; USA) Featuring Yuko Fujiyama on piano & compositions, Graham Haynes on cornet & flugelhorn, Jennifer Choi on violin and Susie Ibarra drums & percussion. Considering that Ms. Fujiyama has been living in NY for thirty years, she has only had a half dozen discs as a leader or collaborator, taking around 5 or 6 years in between each recording. Ms. Fujiyama organized a strong all-star quartet, each leaders on their own. This disc varies between solo piano, duos, trios and quartet. The entire disc sounds well-conceived, no matter how many musicians are on each track. Opening with slop piano, Ms. Fujiyama sounds like she is playing an orchestral introduction. The disc flows together with each combination of players a different section. There are a few quartet sections where everything erupts, yet remains focused. Since becoming and a professor at Bennington College, the ever amazing drummer, Susie Ibarra, has been much less visible in New York. It is so good to hear her here in the center of the storm keeping things connected with her rhythmic magic. Ms. Fujiyama, who I think once studied with Marilyn Crispell, sounds a bit like her at times, splashing some dazzling runs yet knowing exactly when to lay back. Classically trained violinist Jennifer Choi and Susie Ibarra have worked together on several projects previously so using them both makes sense and they sound especially sympathetic to each other’s playing. There are a number of ultra-subtle moments going on here which took some time to figure out how things fit together. Once I stepped back a bit and calmed down to a more reflective level, the balance of elements made more sense. Each piece is described with a simple, organic one line description seems to fit just right. The mystery sits clearly at the center of this disc and feels good inside. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG CD $14

New from New Clean:

SUSANA SANTOS SILVA - All the Rivers - Live at Panteao Nacional (Clean Feed 458; Portugal) Personnel: Susana Santos Silva trumpet, tin whistle & bells. Every solo album with a horn is a difficult task, and that’s the reason why so few are released on record or played on the stage. No-one else is there to give you cues, to challenge you: your creativity and your technical skills are the only resources available. Or so it seems, because in a solo situation you’re dueling with two presences: one, of course, is the audience, and as Derek Bailey used to say, a solo is a duo with the people who listens, but the other is even more determinant, the space around you, sometimes acting very much like there’s another musician around. “Prayers” is a solo indeed, but in this recording trumpeter Susana Santos Silva is improvising with the architecture of the National Pantheon / Santa Engrácia’s Church in Lisbon, namely with its marble acoustics and huge reverberation – each phrasing, each texture is molded by the building, adding other elements to the original sound of the trumpet. Santos Silva works with her knowledge of the instrument and its possibilities, reacting to the transformations resulting from the harmonic action of the space. She’s rediscovering the exploratory, experimental side of free improvisation, somewhat lost during decades of gradually fixed procedures.CD $15

JON RUNE STRØM QUINTET With THOMAS JOHANSSON / ANDRE ROLIGHTEN / et al - Fragments (Clean Feed 459; Portugal) Featuring: Thomas Johansson - trumpet, André Roligheten - tenor sax, Christian Meaas Svendsen - double bass & fender bass (left channel), Jon Rune Strøm double bass & fender bass (right channel) and Andreas Wildhagen drums. Yes, you can create a band concept from the double bass position, but instead of putting himself as the focus of the collective music of his quintet, bassist and composer Jon Rune Strøm enlisted a second bass player, Christian Meaas Svendsen, for the group, like him doubling the upright instrument with an electric one. Which means that the idea is on the sound, not the personality. And the choice of companion explains much of what we find in “Fragments”. If Strøm is known for his incredible energy and physicality, Svendsen is a force of nature, sometimes using two or three bows or performing with arms, legs, feet and mouth. The center of gravity of the music is low, but the two horns manage to take it to the highest levels possible, namely trumpeter Thomas Johansson and tenor saxophonist André Roligheten, with drummer Andreas Wildhagen gluing it all and covering the fortuitous gaps like an octopus. That’s what differenciates the Jon Rune Strøm Quintet from all the other bands including Strøm’s contribution, namely Friends & Neighbors, All Included, Universal Indians and Frode Gjerstad Trio. The project belongs to the same family tree, call it free music or free jazz as you wish, but there’s something else going on. Bass-driven pleasure in its purist form, that is.CD $15

THE HEAT DEATH With MARTIN KUCHEN / KJETIL MøSTER / et al - The Glenn Miller Sessions (Clean Feed 460; Portugal) Featuring: Kjetil Møster on tenor sax & clarinet, Martin Küchen on alto sax & flute, Mats Aleklint on trombone, Ola Høyer on double bass and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen on drums. We didn’t see (or, more exactly, heard) this coming. How could we expect a band like The Heat Death to turn their attention to the music of Glenn Miller? But here it is, once again confirming the notion that everything is possible when coming from the Scandinavian scene. Truth is that this quintet always had an orchestral approach, in the organization of the collective inputs and due to the doubling of instruments, Kjetil Møster playing clarinet besides his tenor saxophone and Martin Küchen turning to the flute when not playing the alto sax, summing up with the presence of a pasting trombone (Mats Aleklint) to unite every part, but what they use to do was miles way from the swing big band Miller’s sound: a free improvised music metamorphing to free jazz, sometimes with African rhythms, reminding us of Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath, and sometimes with the repetitive, “motorik” balance of krautrock, not so strange when we think that Can’s drummer, Jaki Liebezeit, was an original member of Alexander von Schllipenbach’s Globe Unity Orchestra. But here it is, introducing a new form to understand the problem with thermodynamic energy known by science as “the heat death”. If there was a compositional factor in the way this group used to improvise, finding structures when there wasn’t one, now they deal with it in a more committed way. Of course, the resulting music has few resemblances to what the Glenn Miller Orchestra continue to do until this day, but the spirit is there, exploring aspects which were implicit, but never fulfilled, with all the respect to the historic figure who conceived it. Prepare yourself to be surprised.3 CD Set $24

MICHAEL DESSEN TRIO With CHRISTOPHER TORDINI / DAN WEISS - Somewhere in the Upstream (Clean Feed 461; Portugal) Featuring: Michael Dessen on trombone & computer, Christopher Tordini on bass and Dan Weiss on drums. Praised as a "musician for this moment" (Downbeat) for his imaginative work with music technology, trombonist Michael Dessen culminates over a decade with his electro-acoustic trio in this fourth Clean Feed release, an homage to the late Yusef Lateef. After studying with Lateef for several years and making his debut as an improviser on one of Lateef's albums in 1996, Dessen has since carved his own individual path through jazz and contemporary music worlds, acclaimed both for his "black belt" trombone playing (praise from close collaborator Mark Dresser) as well as for his unique work as a composer-bandleader that "straddles the line between the avant garde and the accessible better than most" (All About Jazz). Here Dessen honors Lateef's memory with Somewhere In The Upstream, a longform "scorestream" in which notations are displayed on screens for the improvisers to interpret, shifting unpredictably for each performance. Fluidly melding intricate composition, radically open group improvisation and otherworldly live electronic soundworlds, the music of the Michael Dessen Trio has been recognized with major awards and commissions from Chamber Music America, the Fromm Foundation, and New Music USA. This album distills the core qualities that critics have praised in the band's music over their previous three releases: Compositional structures deeply shape the music but at the same time are always elusive, abstracted by the band in such a way that the focus remains on the organically unfolding interactions among the improvisers and the incredibly wide-ranging expressive dynamics of an entire set. Dessen wrote this music specifically for his longstanding trio members, virtuoso improvisers Chris Tordini (bass) and Dan Weiss (drums) and the album was recorded in a single take to capture the immersive feel and powerful chemistry that the band is known for in their live performances. Tordini deftly grounds the music's kaleidoscopic polyrhythms and constantly surprises the listener with endless gradient explorations of sound, and Weiss similarly combines a broad timbral palette with his renowned rhythmic sensibilities. Dessen completes the trio with his own playing on both trombone and computer, using live processing and sampling in ways that complement but never overwhelm the band's acoustic foundation. Combining the band's live aesthetic with extraordinary recording quality and a heightened attention to sonic detail that will reward repeated listening, Somewhere In The Upstream is a singular compositional achievement by one of the truly original bands of our time.CD $15

IGOR LUMPERT & INNERTEXTURES With GREG WARD / CHRIS TORDINI / KENNY GROHOWSKI / et al - Eleven (Clean Feed 462; Portugal) Featuring: Igor Lumpert on tenor sax, Greg Ward on alto sax, Chris Tordini on double bass and Kenny Grohowski on drums plus Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet and John Ellis on bass clarinet. Here is the third reprise of Igor Lumpert’s project Innertextures, but this time (after “Innertextures” and “Innertextures Live”), not with the previous trio format. The band with Chris Tordini and Nasheet Waits is now a quartet, with Greg Ward playing the second saxophone and Kenny Grohowski taking the drum sticks, and in “Eleven” there’s two guests summing up: trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson on a couple of tracks and bass clarinetist John Ellis playing on another one (in the past, Lumpert had the collaboration of musicians like Robert Glasper and Jacob Bro, and even his trio was once formed with Matt Brewer and Tommy Crane). Important to notice is the fact that Lumpert, Tordini, Grohowski and Finlayson studied together at the New School of Music. The musical formula remains the same, but now more matured and with other nuances: a kind of «hyper-mode bop» with funk elements and some aspects of Slovenian folk music (he was born in Novo Mesto), as the specialized press noted, with «odd-metered rhythmic pacing and mesmeric variances in pitch». For more than 15 years living in New York, Lumpert’s jazz is sounding more American than ever, full of verve and groove, but without losing its “trademark” of complexity and unpredictability. Maybe the most internationally recognized of all Slovenian jazz musicians, this former pupil of Chico Hamilton and Billy Harper who played with luminaries like John Abercrombie and Sonny Simmons is really the face of the present universal dimension of this music genre, with each composition brilliantly confirming that status. A must listen, must have record, marvelously produced by Robert Sadin.CD $15

ORQUESTRA DEL TIEMPO PERDIDO With MICHAEL MOORE / et al - “Stille” (Shhpuma 036; Portugal) The name of this project references Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time”, but that doesn’t prepare us for the music played on “Stille”. Orquesta del Tiempo Perdido is a wildly eclectic, ‘post- everything’ explosion, taking on aspects of contemporary classical music, jazz, experimental electro- acoustic, math-rock, pop, non-Western folklore, exotica and vaudeville. The points of reference are deftly approached on their own terms, and re-contextualised in impossible composites. The album was conceived in the unquiet mind of the idiosyncratic Dutch musician and composer Jeroen Kimman, for whom this represents a first release as producer and engineer. In addition to playing most of the instruments of the Orquesta (although it also features contributions by some of Amsterdam's most creative musicians), Kimman has produced the sound world of the album in microscopic detail, taking the instruments further into deranged sonic territories. Despite the scope of the record, there is a unity to the music that owes more to the film soundtracks of Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota, and the virtuosic experimentalism of early studio pioneers such as The Three Suns, Les Baxter and Martin Denny, than to other contemporary attempts at eclecticism. It comes out of Kimman’s genuine love of, for example, country and western or striptease bands, combined with his experiences writing for theatre, dance and animated cinema. The result may seem bizarre but it’s a work of genius.CD $13

NICK MILLEVOI ́S DESERTION TRIO WITH JAMIE SAFT - “Midtown Tilt” (Shhpuma 037; Portugal) Featuring Nick Millevoi on guitar, Jamie Saft on organ, Johnny DeBlase on electric bass and Kevin Shea on drums plus Ashley Tini on vibes. Guitarist Nick Millevoi's (Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band, John Zorn's Bagatelles) Desertion project has created its second opus, Midtown Tilt. Now using the title Desertion Trio, the band features Johnny DeBlase (Many Arms, Sabbath Assembly) on bass, and Kevin Shea (Mostly Other People Do The Killing, Talibam!) at the drumkit, and follows 2016's Desertion by also featuring guest Jamie Saft (Electric Masada, The New Standard Trio with and without Iggy Pop) on the organ. Vibraphonist and percussionist Ashley Tini joins on three tracks. Much like Desertion, the formula for Midtown Tilt continues to follow an instrumental country-folk- rock mix with elements from jazz, as we would expect from these musicians. The musicians improvise as if their lives depend on it, but also evoke an imagery that takes listeners through the history of instrumental electric guitar music. Inspired by the town of Wildwood, NJ and the anachronistic clash of re-imagined cultures seen in its motels and amusements, Midtown Tilt is an amalgamation of jazz, psychedelic blues, surf music, and country rock instrumentals, often reminding us of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse scoring a western. Through Saft’s organ, something else is added: traces of the rhythm and blues played by Booker T. & The M.G.’s and of the blues-rock of bands like The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith. The mix is explosive.CD $14

GARD NILSSEN ́S ACOUSTIC UNITY - Live in Europe (Clean Feed 440; Portugal) Featuring: Gard Nilssen - drums, Petter Eldh - double bass and André Roligheten - tenor & soprano saxes plus Fredrik Ljungkvist tenor saxophone & clarinet, Kristoffer Berre Alberts - alto,tenor & baritone saxes and Jørgen Mathisen - tenor saxophone & clarinet. If we were in the seventies and a release like this – a triple LP – crossed our way, we would think that progressive rock was receiving its most ambitious conceptual album ever, but no. The year is 2017 and “Live in Europe” is something else entirely: a celebration of improvised music in its purest form, recorded in concert – as it should. Gard Nilssen’s trio Acoustic Unity played in the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Ljubljana Jazz Festival and the Oslo Jazz Festival in 2016 and the entirety of those performances were documented. Only in the first vinyll we find the triangle formed by the drummer with André Roligheten and Petter Eldh. The second has the contributions of Fredrik Ljungkvist and the third of Kristoffer Alberts and Jørgen Mathisen. The effect, anyhow, is very similar: this is a very special edition, and it has the same impact in the present creative jazz scene that it would have 40 years ago if it was something coming from King Crimson or Frank Zappa. The importance of this group in instantaneous composition with jazz as its foundation is equivalent. Nilssen’s enthusiasm on the liner notes is very clear: this is «one of the best bands I’ve ever been a part of by far». Why? Because these musicians are re-inventing melody and rhythm while improvising, and that’s not a common task.3 LP 3 CD Set = $60

Three Great New Discs from the Dr. Eugene Chadbourne:

The late, great Frank Zappa had a problem throughout his nearly three decade music career: starting with the Mothers of Invention on through his solo records or performances, he was often tagged as “comedy music” and not always taken seriously. As long as I’ve known Eugene Chadbourne (late 1979), he also has been tagged in a similar way due to his singing, on-stage banter, devices like balloons and even song choice. Doc Chadbourne played a swell solo set last Monday (2/5/2018) on just banjo, covering “Cloud Nine” (the Temptations) and “Concentration Moon” (The Mothers), both songs dealing with the darker side of life in America. Chadbourne’s guitar & banjo playing has continued to evolve as he explores many types of music. Here’s three new discs, each very different:

EUGENE CHADBOURNE - The Pint of No Return (Chadula; USA) Featuring Doc Chadbourne on guitar, banjo & voice, Titus Waldenfels on fiddle, guitar, lap steel & banjolin, Jan Fitsen on bass & baritone guitar and Schroeder on drums. Recorded Frieburg, Germany in October of 2017. This is a two-fer (two for one) CD package recorded live at the lovely Babeuf club in Freiburg. This ensemble has been developing a great repertoire of country, rock, old-time and originals; this performance was perfectly captured by a pair of high quality stereo microphones and the band was playing so well I felt it made sense to release both sets in their entirety, with very little editing. - EC Although Dr. Chadbourne plays and records quite a bit of solo efforts, he has long collaborated with different groups of musicians: Shockabilly, Camper Van Beethoven, Sun City Girls and the Violent Femmes. Mr. Chadbourne tours in Europe and the US often and has always sought out like-minded musicians whenever he goes. Touring in Germany and Italy last year, he has a handful of players that he has worked with through the years. This disc features a quartet with three members from Germany, the drummer Schroder who he has played with for many years. Doc Chad again chooses diverse and selective covers songs: “Wildflowers” (by Tom Petty), “Two Sleepy People” (Dean Martin), “Southern Cross” (Crosby, Stills & Nash), “Keep on Pushing” (the Impressions) and “Neat Neat Neat” (The Damned). The quartet sound like a country band with a healthy dose of jazz influence (the solos), which does actually rock out at times. There is quite a bit of silliness, the tongue-in-cheek type, going on here. Somehow, Dr. Chad and his band find a way of having all these songs fit together into a seamless vision of the ridiculousness of life… - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG 2 CD Set $14

EUGENE CHADBOURNE - BACH - New Collection 2017 (Chadula; USA) Featuring Dr. Chadbourne on banjos with guest Steven DeBruyn on harmonica. Some of this was recorded live at the Donauschingen Festival, a legendary New Music festival. For the last decade, Mr. Chadbourne has been working his way through the JS Bach catalogue and for this performance, he plays several pieces by Bach as well as “An Oscar for Treadwell” by Charlie Parker. This disc sounds like it was recorded outdoors and not far from the stage, audience sounds are minimal yet create soft buzz underneath. Starting with “Bach Variations 1”, which seems to be cut short and quickly jumps into the Parker song which we get just a snippet of. On “Prepacha”, Doc Chad quietly explores weird, rubbed strings sounds and perhaps is recorded in his home studio. He seems to be working his way through different themes and variations, snatching a familiar lick here and there and then twisting it in different ways. Eventually Chad is playing some of Bach’s “Arias”, giving them an almost bluegrass-like sound (back to a live segment). There is section where Doc seems to be getting faster and faster as if in a race before things calm down to a more restrained section. What I dig about this is that Dr. Chadbourne is taking us on a journey, weaving several themes and approaches to his banjo playing, bending notes in unexpected places, dropping in fragments yet somehow it is all well connected. It just takes a bit of patience to wander through the entire journey. - Bruce Lee Gallnater, DMG CD $12

EUGENE CHADBOURNE - Freak-Doktor (Chadula; USA) Featuring Doc Chadbourne on electric guitar, banjo & voice and recorded in Italy in 2017. After Doc Chadbourne’s solo set here at DMG last Monday (2/5/18), we went out for a dinner at an Italian restaurant down the block and talked at length about music. It turns out that Doc Chad and myself, who are around the same age, both have a deep love for bands and songs from the 1960’s: the Kinks, the Stones, Donavon, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, etc. For this disc, Mr. Chadbourne does a number of 60’s covers. Starting with Hendrix’s “Electric Lady Land”, calm, jazzy (great solo) and most sublime. Hearing Captain Beefheart’s “Steal Softly Through Sunshine” on banjo is a revelation, listening to the wonderful oddly poetic lyrics and banjo speeding up and slowing down. Even Doc Chad’s rare original song, “Happy New Year”, about his daughters is most touching. Since both of us are big fans of the LA 60’s band Love, it is always great to hear a cover of their song “Alone Again Or”. Eugene often chooses songs which have lyrics that ring true throughout (our) time and melodies that seem ring at the center of our hearts. I hadn’t heard Joni Mitchell’s “Songs to Aging Children” in many years so that listening to the lyrics again made more sense in retrospect since we are all aging children. I can’t believe that Doc Chad does garage (early grunge) classic “Talk Talk” by the Music Machine, a favorite of mine and Eugene’s version is hilarious. No matter what song he chooses, Eugene makes that song his own, serious or silly or somewhere in between. Sometimes his choices seem odd or even questionable, like later period Fleetwood Mac (“Landslide”), yet each songs fit like a piece of jigsaw puzzle. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG CD $12

Back in stock:

EUGENE CHADBOURNE - Dreamory (Chadula; USA) Holy Sh*t!!! Our good pal, Dr. Eugene Chadbourne, has outdone himself this time with no doubt the largest book (almost 1,200 pages!?!) that any Downtown, Experimental or Avant-Garde musician has undertaken. This fat little book weighs 3 & 1/2 pounds and the type is small! Eugene Chadbourne or Doc Chad has come a long ways since helping found the early Downtown NYC Scene in the late seventies with other like-minded instigators/inventors/musicians/composers John Zorn, Tom Cora, Polly Bradfield, Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb, Dave Sewelson & Philip Johnston. Docter Chadbourne founded Parachute Records, one of the first independent Downtown labels, worked closely with John Zorn when Mr. Zorn was composing his early, legendary Game Pieces (late seventies/early eighties), was a founding member of Shockabilly, Camper Van Beethoven and the Jim & Jack Show with Jimmy Carl Black. Plus Eugene has worked with dozens of important, avant musicians worldwide: Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, Paul Lovens, Han Bennink, Toshinori Kondo, Duck Baker, Henry Kaiser, etc. 'Dreamory' contains 26 chapters and includes many journal entrees, ideas and observations from Dr. Chadbourne's long and crazed life as a musician, composer and bandleader who has traveled the world and worked with dedicated musicians and the committed listeners who make up his audience. The term "comedy music" was often directed at Frank Zappa since there was so much humor/satire in what he did. Like the often misunderstood and occasionally under-recognized genius of Mr. Zappa, Dr. Chadbourne has also had similar criticism thrown his way. And yes, quite a bit of the way Doc Chad acts on stage is silly. That being said, that if you look below the surface you will that Dr. Chadbourne is committed to exploring his music and has done a fine job of blending many extreme streams: free/jazz, psych rock, country, bluegrass and the blues, modern and even older classical ideas, from the serious to the ridiculous. I have always loved to read Chadbourne's writing since it both cracks me up time and again and makes me realize that the diversity and mystery of modern music is still vast, there is more to be explored. I have only read the first dozen pages so far and already I am smiling, giggling and thinking about the way music unites the many freaks around the world, giving us hope for better days ahead. This nearly 1,200 page brick-sized book is almost too much, but I look forward to the long journey. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMGBOOK $34

FIRE! With MATS GUSTAFSSON / JOHN BERTHLING / ANDREAS WERLIN - The Hands (Rune Grammofon 2197; Norway) Very much a tight knit unit with three equal players, Fire! has been likened to powerful guitar led trios such as Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but with Johan Berthling's heavy, doom-laden basslines being such a typical identifier, you can't help but think of Black Sabbath's debut album (1970) when it comes to hypnotic impact. The Hands is the trio's sixth album and it once again displays a totally uncompromising and intriguing mix of (mostly) heavy, dark, and intensely burning music whether one decides to call it jazz or rock. The album closes on a quiet and reflective note with the appropriately titled "I Guard Her To Rest. Declaring Silence." And you might say it's easily their best so far. Personnel: Mats Gustafsson - tenor, baritone and bass saxophones, live electronics; Johan Berthling - electric and double bass; Andreas Werliin - drums, percussion and feedback.CD $15

MAKOTO KAWABATA / RICHARD PINHAS / TATSUYA YOSHIDA - Trax (Bam Balam BBCD 052; France) Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple), Richard Pinhas (Heldon), and Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins). What else is there to say? Richard Pinhas is one of the more atypical French musicians of the last 40 years. He has been surprising everyone all these years -- Always appearing where you expect him the least. Makoto Kawabata, who has been a big follower of Heldon, has also been a longtime friend and partner of Tatsuya Yoshida. So naturally, these three reunited in 2016 at the Studio Condorcet in Toulouse (France) to record a series of fiery improvisations and experimentations. Free noise, blues, and psychedelia are all intertwined, but there is an uneasiness to it, some anxiety matting the mix. The music is relentlessly broken down: percussive guitars turned bewitching metronome, while other guitars are taken on a sometimes lyrical but always chaotic journey, keeping the listener on edge. Repeat listens will trigger memories of German psychedelia or even the more recent noise rock or no-wave. Every title is named "Trax" followed by a number. The second "Trax" flirts with bands such as Can in their most primary form; that's to say that it's obsessivly repetitive. But the trio is so skillful that they turn influences into subliminal messages. Each "Trax" is a sonic outburst, relentlessly following each other. The musicians expose their most expressive and unbridled sides; it's a free music but without the permanent collapse. Richard Pinhas's guitar is a bit like Sonny Sharrock's, but with some sort of Sonic Youth treatment applied to it, and you still can spot those particular effects reminiscent of the Heldon years. CD version comes in a digisleeve.CD $13 or LP $18

KIM RANCOURT With DON FLEMING / GARY LUCAS / JOE BOUCHARD / STEVE SHELLEY - Plum Plum (Clown Heroes Records 1001; USA) “This one is something of a pleasure for me to have heard and have the opportunity to review, as I had the good fortune of meeting Mr. Rancourt, one of the greatest (and nicest) raconteurs I’ve ever known. We met over 25 years ago when I was at my first record label job and he worked for the company that supplied our print films to produce album, cassette and CD packaging. He was also the keyman who helped my band, The Punch Line, make their appearance on the worldwide R.E.M. tribute album, Surprise Your Pig (we did “Bandwagon”), so even though time has passed, I’m very happy to see him finally releasing something under his own name. In many ways, this album is an all-star effort – at least in my opinion – as the players involved include Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, guitar-god Gary Lucas and mega-guitarist Don Fleming; production was done by Blue Oyster Cult founding member Albert Bouchard – and if you have a sense of rock history, you’d know that this is one impeccable cluster of cohorts/co-conspirators. There is an air of fun, raw and loose playing – not quite punk but more garage – and the vocal delivery is perfect for these tracks – a mix of some singing and sprechgesang. Of the songs, “Walking The Trashline” has a loose, almost funky groove to it and gets things off to a rousing start; a modern “party” shoutalong; “Circle’s Gotta Go” is an exercise in hilariously controlled insanity and “Claudine” has some fantastic guitar textures and melody. “I Kissed Pat Place” is a brilliant guitar wipe-out; in places it reminds me of a mix of The Minutemen and Captain Beefheart (and is my favorite track from this collection); “Hail” is a spoken word piece with a cinematic “mystery”/”slasher” film soundscape, eerie and oddly compelling and “She Got Hit” is another full-throttle guitar attack that sums up all the best elements of the performers and is the other balls-out highlight. A perfect summary of this album comes by way of the press release: “Plum Plum is an album that loosely refers to New York, then and now. There’s a song about no wave icon Pat Place, and “She Got Hit” is a side-door tribute to Lou Reed; it’s “Sister Ray” for the era of the Second Avenue subway. “Leave Your Light On” was written, Rancourt says, for Dolly Parton to sing, and she should, too – preferably greeting a boat of new immigrants at the Statue of Liberty. Kim says “Arkansas Is Burning” is his favorite song, “a pink pussy hat of a protest against political stupidity. Some protest songs don’t get dated.” You have to love it. And you will. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED” - Rob Ross, PopDoseCD $12 / LP $16

JOHN LUTHER ADAMS // JACK QUARTET - Everything That Rises (Cold Blue Music 051; USA) Formerly Alaska-based contemporary classical composer, John Luther Adams, has been composing music for many years and has some twenty discs to his name. Since winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for “Become Ocean”, his profile has risen to the top of the heap and for good reason. I have been collecting and enjoying whatever he does for many years and look forward to each and every release. “Everything That Rises” is Mr. Adams’ fourth string quartet and it is played here by the JACK Quartet. There is always something organic, spiritual or magical in Adam’s music. A swaying motion, breathing slowly in and out, in and out… Drifting on a raft on the ocean, the strings seems to moves in waves, each string a different waves, yet all of them connected to an inner current. Each string is shimmering, resonating in slightly different ways. I am reminded of ghosts or spirits slowly dancing or swaying together in a ritualistic circle. The spirits are rising higher and higher into the heavens. The clouds are drifting by more quickly than is usual. The combined string sometimes sound like a wheezing accordion, expanding and contracting, breathing slowly. The higher the strings rise, the more the air gets thinner, throwing off our balance a bit yet still keeping us slightly off balance and drifting together. Is that the sunshine slowly creeping through the clouds? I certainly hope so since the winter was long and hard. I found this music to me most uplifting, time to drink a glass of wine and fade into some snooze land. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG CD $12

PETER GARLAND - Moon Viewing Music (Inscrutable Stillness Studies #1) (Cold Blue Music 052; USA) The composer writes: “Moon Viewing Music is composed for three large knobbed gongs and one large tam-tam. For the gongs I want a deep low sound; but at the same time the relationship between them {and the character of the pieces in which multiple gongs are featured) is essentially melodic. I am not fixing pitches or interval relationships, so as not to limit possibilities (and to accommodate what might be available on hand). But the tonal (and harmonic/vibrational) character of the three gongs is very important.… The gongs and tam-tam should be allowed to resonate and decay freely. At no time should any of them be damped. “This music is low and slow—an obvious correlation exists between tempo and pitch register. I might also suggest a correspondence between the round shape of the gongs and tam-tam and that of the full moon.… Each of the six pieces has a corresponding haiku or short poem, and there is meant to be a correlation between text and music…. “For me moon viewing is a year-round activity, though I’m aware that it is associated with autumn in the Japanese literary tradition (as in the text for #4). This cycle was composed in the winter. There is a unique light and intensity in a winter moon, as it rises in the darkest days (nights) of the year, and shines on a landscape of trees stripped of their leaves and of white snow that amplifies and reflects the moonlight, often creating an eerie sense of daylight—further reinforced by the shadows cast on the snow. There is also a special silence because of the extreme cold and the absence of animal, bird, and insect sounds. If autumn is the moonlight of nostalgia, winter is the moonlight of loneliness, an inscrutable stillness….”CD $12

ANDY AKIHO // VICKY CHOW / JENNY Q CHAI / FRICTION QUARTET/ MEMBERS OF THE KNIGHTS - The War Below (National Sawdust 017; USA) This is the second disc from composer/steel drummer Andy Akiho. the first one was on Innova and came out in 2011 and was one of the only discs which featured steel drums in a modern classical setting. This disc is divided into two suites, each one with piano and string quartet. The first suite is called, “Prospects of a Misplaced Year” and is performed by Jenny Q Chai on piano with the Friction Quartet. It sounds like the piano is being played by banging objects inside, with more rhythmic patterns bouncing around. Eventually the piano and string quartet plays their furious lines tightly together. A repeating pattern of plucked strings is one one the main themes which runs through this piece, emerging and submerging, below the waves. Jenny Chai mutes certain notes and/or bangs/plucks certain notes inside the piano, creating a good deal of suspense. The integration of the piano (mostly as a percussion instrument) and string quartet is seamless and superbly balanced. The second suite is called “Septet” and is a lovely, melancholy and often haunting work. I dig the way the piano plays those dancing, circular lines in the center of the spinning strings. On the last part of “Septet”, steel drum, percussion and piano are featured quietly playing a series of interlocking lines. Mr. Akiho does a great job of composing pieces that utilize each member of the ensemble so that everything flows as one festive force. National Sawdust is a newer performance place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn which features mostly contemporary classical music. John Zorn curates there once a month. Nice to see they have also started a label to feature some of the composers they support. Congratulations to all parties involved. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG CD $12

ACTUAL TRIO With JOHN SCHOTT / DAN SEAMANS / JOHN HANES - Act II (Self-Produced; USA) The Actual Trio features John Schott on guitar, Dan Seamans on double bass and John Hanes on drums. We haven’t heard much from Bay Area-based guitarist, John Schott, in recent years, after having five discs out on the Tzadik, New World and his own Smash the State labels. Those in the know recognize John Schott’s name from his work with TJ Kirk and Ben Goldberg. Drummer John Hanes is the brother of bassist Hilary Hanes, both of whom have worked for many years with another Bay Area guitarist, Henry Kaiser. By the way, this is the second disc from the Actual Trio, the first one was on Tzadik. This disc was recorded in December of 2016, the dark shadow of the US election from a month earlier hanging over the trio and affecting the music in ways not described in the notes but still felt. The opener, “Heading Back”, has a infectious, jazz/rock groove with Mr. Schott playing more of a rhythm guitar like repeating, hypnotic line. Mr. Schott uses very few effects on his guitar, preferring to a clean, mild vibrato with a fine, laid back rhythm team. All of the pieces are thoughtfully constructed, a reflective vibe that feels resolute yet without too much drama. I get the feeling that there is some sunshine going on although it does feel a bit dark around us at times. The trio has an almost surf/rock like sound yet without too much reverb on the guitar. I had really noticed how much using certain effects on the guitar (like distortion or wah wah), adds depth to the way that those sounds affect us. Instead when the tone is more lean, it is the notes themselves that touch us. That economy allows us to fill in the space between the notes with our own imagination. Time to listen again and see where we end up. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG CD $14

PSYCHIC TV - Kondole / Dead Cat (Cold Spring Records 246; UK) Cold Spring Records present Kondole / Dead Cat, a double CD and DVD collection. The rare film features: Derek Jarman, Andrew Tiernan -- The Pianist (2002), 300 (2006), The Bunker (2001), Derek Jarman's Edward II (1991) -- and Genesis P-Orridge (Psychic TV, Throbbing Gristle). The first CD features the complete, long version of "Dead Cat". "...what could be more beautiful that such a sustaining & chronic radical as Gen could have provided us all -- in the form of Kondole -- with a piece of truly necessary Everyday Listening?" --Julian Cope, Head Heritage. The second CD contains three tracks. "Thee Whale" was recorded at Time Square Studios, Chiswick, London, on January 23rd, 1988. It is the soundtrack to an unmade 23-minute film called Kondole (Thee Whale), by David Lewis and Andy Crabb. The second part, "Thee Shadow Creatures" was recorded at Hyperdelic Studios, San Francisco on January 23rd, 1993. The third part, "Dead Cat" was recorded at Time Square Studios, Chiswick, London, on January 23rd, 1989. It is the soundtrack to the film Dead Cat by David Lewis (1989). The DVD contains the film Dead Cat. It was released in 1989 and shown only at a handful of cinemas that year, including once at the infamous Scala Cinema in London. It was never issued on general release and has only recently been uncovered by David Lewis (writer and director). The full film is presented here, re-authored from the original source. The film itself features unique starring roles from cult film director Derek Jarman, Andrew Tiernan, and Genesis P-Orridge. The film features the music of Psychic TV. Presented in a lavish eight-panel matt digipak with booklet. DVD is PAL region free.2 CD Box DVD $36

VICTOR ASSIS BRASIL - Esperanto / Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim (Far Out Recordings 201; UK) Presenting a second album from Victor Assis Brasil from the treasure trove of the Quartin Records catalog, Esperanto, originally released in 1976. Over the course of the 1960s, Roberto Quartin released more than 20 albums in Brazil on his label Forma. Selling the rights of Forma to Polygram in 1969, Quartin struck out for pastures new at the dawn of the 1970s with the launch of his self-titled label. Significant works and high-water marks for Brazilian music overall followed in that decade's first year. These singular gems in Brazilian music, difficult to categorize, yet compellingly beautiful, have for too long gone unheard. Gifted his first saxophone by his aunt at the age of fourteen, only four years later the determined young musician, Victor Assis Brasil recorded his debut album, with a second to follow only a year later. The prodigious young carioca was subsequently granted a place to study at Berklee College of Music, where he played alongside the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Chick Corea, and Ron Carter. It was also during this period he recorded Esperanto and Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim with Roberto Quartin, upon returning to Brazil in the summer of 1970. Recorded in the same sessions as the Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim album, Esperanto consists of five deep jazz cuts: original compositions except for a heavy-swinging Latin-jazz cover of Jimmy Heath's "Ginger Bread Boy", alongside more moments of wild frenetic jazz, like "Quarenta Graus A Sombra", amongst more melancholic, but no less captivating compositions like "Marilia" and "Ao Amigo Quartin". Esperanto's influences span both American continents, finding a meeting point for Latin jazz and North American post-bop, with Roberto Quartin's perfectionist approach to sound elevating the already incandescent music to divine new heights. The band consists of some mercurial greats of Brazilian music: Dom Salvador (bass), Edison Machado (drums), Helio Delmiro (guitar), and Edson Lobo (Bass). Victor Assis Brasil passed away aged just thirty-five, due to a rare circulatory disease, but by this point his status was already cemented as one of the most talented musicians in Brazil's history. This double-CD is contains both Esperanto and Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim (previously only made available by Far Out Recordings on vinyl), as well as two bonus tracks: previously unreleased alternative versions of "Marilia" and "Ao Amigo Quartin".CD $15

TBOUBACAR RAORE - Dounia Tabolo (Lusifrica 762502[ France) "Boubacar Traore carries within him all the beauty of African blues. A diamond among the jewels of Mandingo music, he shines with the dark glow of exceptional purity. Only the voice of 'Kar Kar' (a footballing nickname meaning 'The Dribbler' given him by his friends, who also love the beautiful game) can blend Niger and Mississippi river alluvia with such moving authenticity. His unique, inimitable, self-taught guitar technique owes a great deal to his kora influences, but its shades and phrasing also suggest the great black bluesmen of the deep South: Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and others. Back in the '60s when the euphoria of African independence reigned, the 20-year-old Boubacar Traore was Mali's Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. He was the first to play Mandingo-based music on electric guitar, long before his junior, Ali Farka Touré. It is in the United States, in Lafayette Louisiana, that Boubacar Traore wished to record his third album for the label Lusafrica. The guitarist's intention was to change the coloration of his songs (old numbers like 'Dounia Tabolo' or 'Kanou', and new ones, 'Ben de Kadi', 'Mousso') while conserving their original character. So it is with musicians from the Southern States of the USA he had met on tour, Cedric Watson on violin and washboard, and Corey Harris on guitar, that he undertook the recording of his album Dounia Tabolo at the end of 2016. And when he told them he wanted to add a cello and female voice to the album, Cedric Watson suggested Leyla McCalla. This recording is a new milestone in the work of this extraordinary but modest artist. From blues to folk and Cajun to Zydeco music, his new traveling companions have provided a touch of folly and swing (Cedric Watson), blues depth (Corey Harris) and discreet elegance (Leyla McCalla). More than ever, Boubacar Traore has shown himself to be the living, vital connection between Mali and the Mississippi.CD $15

MYTHIC SUNSHIP - Upheaval (El Paraiso Records 044; Denmark) On their third album, Upheaval, Mythic Sunship take their deepest dive yet. Their own brand of wobbly boogie doom reaches new dimension of pure Sabbath-like proportions. Yet there's also a new state of re-fined inner space. Mythic Sunship don't only know how to let it rip and let loose -- they are also masters of knowing when to turn down and zone out. The restless, manic beat of Frederik Denning rides on a dense blanket of fuzz from Rasmus Cleve's bass. This rhythm section flows the ground for epic stoner sagas. Leaving ample space for the fuzzy, shimmering, and downright crushing dual guitar excursions of Emil Thorenfeldt and Kasper Stougaard. Upheaval is the apex of the band's journey so far. Mythic Sunship sounds mature and unified like never before on this set, but also maintaining their raw searching edge. It's a culmination and refinement of their idea: the ethos of free jazz in a doom setting.CD $15

AGENCEMENT - Six Juxtaposed Works (Tochnit Aleph 153; Germany) Six Juxtaposed Works is the first release by Japanese artist Hideaki Shimada, a/k/a Agencement, since 2001. Six Juxtaposed Works presents new pieces for violin, viola, cello, electronics, and tape. Performed and recorded between 2013 and 2017. Shimada (born 1962) plays violin improvisations since the late 1970s and formed the Agencement project in the early 1980s adding electronics and tape-techniques to his play and releasing the first self-titled cassette in 1984. Between 1986 and 2001 he published four more Agencement albums on his own Pico label. What Shimada offers intellectually is quality in limited quantity; a maximum result from a seemingly minimum effort. His work has been described as both noise and music, avant-garde and minimalism, nervous and mellow, frantic and still, hectic and calm. Includes artwork based on a drawing by Hideaki Shimada. Six-panel digipak; Edition of 300.CD $18

Finally Repressed:

JOSHUA ABRAMS AND NATURAL INFORMATION SOCIETY - Simultonality Tak:Til / Glitterbeat GB 048; Germany) CD release of the follow-up to Joshua Abrams's critically acclaimed 2015 album Magnetoception. Credited to Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society (NIS), this the first recording in the project's four-album history made by a regularly gigging manifestation rather than a special assembly of friends. Recorded in 2014 and 2015 in single takes by the full ensemble during and after tours of the U.S. and Canada, Simultonality once more affirms the project's unique approach to joining traditional musics, American minimalism, and jazz with the Gnawa ceremonial instrument the guimbri. Stasis, continuity, and repetition -- central qualities of Abrams's language -- defined Magnetoception, a double album of beautifully spacious and unhurried music that rated high on both Pitchfork's "Experimental Records Roundup" and The Wire's "Releases of the Year" at the end of 2015. These same qualities form the heart of Abrams's music on Simultonality. But while Abrams once said Magnetoception is about "winter & death," Simultonality, in Abrams's words, is an album of "pure motion." Without sounding frenetic it is the most explosive NIS music on record, and without sounding over-determined it is Abrams's most structured and thru-composed music yet. Much of it is also fast ("the last record was slow"), a mass of densely patterned elements swiftly orbiting constantly reconfiguring centers that are variously harmonic and rhythmic, clearly stated or implied. While so teeming and tightly packed as to sometimes seem impossible to parse, the music is at no time any more disorderly than a colony of bees pollinating a vast garden. Its many moving parts function in a mutualistic relationship toward fulfilling Abrams's long-stated intention for the project: to help listeners achieve a meditative center and to consciously use music as a gateway to living. Abrams credits the great bassist and composer William Parker as an inspiration for this intention. The musicians on Simultonality date back to the nascency of NIS. Along with Hamid Drake, Mikel Avery and Frank Rosaly are Abrams's first-call drummers for the project. Abrams prefers two or more drummers in NIS whenever possible. On Simultonality, Avery is in the left channel, Rosaly the right. The metallic shaker sound sometimes heard in the center of the stereo image is the rattle attached to Abrams's guimbri. Astute heads may recognize the rhythm in "Sideways Fall" as Jaki Liebezeit's drum break from Can's "Vitamin C." At Abrams's behest the two drummers divided the beat into separate parts. According to Hamid Drake the rhythm was popularized, if not originated, by John "Jabo" Starks and Clyde Stubblefield of The J.B.'s. Nearly ten years into an existence that began in 2008, Abrams and the NIS wear their influences with creativity and ease. Longstanding NIS members Ben Boye and Emmett Kelly were previously together with Abrams, or not, in Bonnie Prince Billy's band, and Abrams and Boye have at different times played in Kelly's band The Cairo Gang (while Boye and Kelly are in Ty Segall's Freedom Band as of 2017). Harmonium player Lisa Alvarado also contributes the large-format pattern paintings used by NIS at concerts and for its album covers.CD $16

LP Section:

KAOS KARMA With MAKOTO KAWABATA / RYOKO ONO - 11 43 (Bam Balam 048; France) 11 43 is the third Kaos Karma album. Still very much inspired by current experimental blues or rock n' roll, this album is a bit different from the two previous ones. The sound is somewhere between No Blues, Alan Vega, Kendra Smith, and Gong. Kaos Karma is joined on this record by a few Japanese friends and musicians: Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple), Ryoko Ono (Sax Ruins) holding back a bit, which is somewhat unusual but welcome in this context, and last but not least, the divine À Qui Avec Gabriel. Every noise is organized often enameled with groove, this blues has been meticulously built from the ground up. The tracks pour into a sonic and somewhat stormy ocean into which the listener will easily sink. The warm and raspy voice is reminiscent of the well-known ghosts of Beefheart or the wise ones of the Delta. But this is 21st century blues. At the same time old and new, naked, trippy, and orgasmic; a music outside of time, but very real that creates an incredible tension. Personnel: Fab Giberti - vocals, guitar; Pits Esb - studio work, bass. Guests include: Makoto Kawabata, Ryoko Ono, À Qui Avec Gabriel, Soil Vibrates, and Dom Corrieras.LP $16

DAVID FAIR - Ballets (Dance Like This)(Feeding Tube FTR 336; USA) Subtitled Dance Like This, Ballets retrieves the long-lost solo debut by David Fair (half of the original Half Japanese). Made up of six side-long loops, the record is hypnotic and beautiful. Rather than blather on further, Feeding Tube Records decided to do a short interview with the artist himself. Here 'tis: Feeding Tube Records: When did you get the idea for this album? David Fair: I don't remember what year it was, but I think it was after Charmed Life (1988) was recorded but before it came out. It might have been between Half Gentlemen / Not Beasts (1980) and Loud (1981). Jad had done a little solo project called Zombies of Mora Tau (1982). The group of ballets was going to be my first solo project. It was going to be released on the 50,000,000,000,000,000 Watts label, but the label folded up before the release date.3 LP Set $46

KNOWLEDGE - Hail Dread (Kingston Sounds KSCD 071; UK) Kingston Sounds present a reissue of Knowledge's debut album Hail Dread, originally released in 1978. The group Knowledge and Tapper Zukie's stories are intertwined through their location in the Rema area of Kingston. Tapper Zukie took the band under his wing and helped get this classic album Hail Dread a worldwide release back in 1979. When it first hit the record shelves, Knowledge's lineup included Anthony Doyley, Delroy Folding, Earl MacFarlane, Mike Smith, Michael Samuels, and later Paul Freeman. The group's debut release was Make Faith (1978) with Tapper Zukie introducing the band as his protégés, beginning a winning formula. The band released many of their early singles on Tapper's Stars imprint, and they were produced by Tapper himself. This culminated in Tapper getting the band a deal with a major label A&M making Knowledge the first reggae band to be signed to the label. A&M were keen to work with Tapper as an artist and producer. They even motioned Tapper to be backed by one of their other signed bands, The Police, for a UK tour. Tapper thought that being backed by a band named after such an establishment would not be a wise idea and declined the offer. But the connection did lead up to one of Jamaica's great vocal groups getting their debut album, again produced by Tapper Zukie and released on this major label. Sadly the relationship was short lived and the album Hail Dread would be their only release on A&M. Hail Dread is one of roots reggae's classic '70s releases and shows the group and their producer at the height of their powers. Proof is in the listening. CD version includes four bonus tracks.CD $15

GAKUSEI JIKKEN SHITSU - Hekizan (Bam Balam 045; France) Electronic experiments and free saxophone -- Recorded in studio at Nagoya in 2014 and 2016 by Gakusei Jikken Sitsu (GJS). The title Hekizan comes from the poem "Sanchu Mondo" by Ri-Haku. GJS means "experiment room". Gakusei Jikken Shitsu (GJS) is: Ryoko Ono (saxophone), Hiroki Ono (electronics), and Yuko Oshima (drums). Ryoko Ono, born in Sapporo and currently playing mainly in Nagoya, is an active Japanese female saxophone player, specializing in improvised music and works for saxophone and electronics. Her saxophone playing is beautiful and flavorful as well, even if it's avant-garde or experimental. Ono has collaborated with Richard Pinhas, Tatsuya Yoshida (Sax Ruins), and Acid Mothers Temple, to name a few. Edition of 200.LP $16

ROUGH & WOJTYLA - Side R & Side W (Bam Balam 047; France) The Rough & Wojtyla album Side R & Side W offers a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle that recreates a monochromatic landscape. Drones are supported by tentative jazz drum beats, and just when you think you have found some stability in the listening, ruptures happen and multiply. In perfect harmony, the two musicians don't take themselves seriously; they saturate their sonic world with long abstruse silences, before returning more furiously into the barely hidden chaos. The listener is constantly pushed around, always looking for something to hang on to without ever finding it. But concretely, what might one find in the music? Maybe Walter Ruttman and his Weekend (1930)? Or maybe Albert Ayler? Some Stockhausen? When the fury of the sax swirls around the siren, it's a bit of Cluster taking a trip to the land of free-jazz that rips the thick veil of the oppressing yet liberating first part. Or this disco rocket, which for a very precise 15 seconds would have you believe that expectations might be met. But nothing that comes next resembles what has just crumbled. The duo is enjoying itself with this collage, this assembly of sonic decadence where nothing holds, not even the bearing walls. This structure is ready to crumble at any moment. The krautrock-inspired electro passages get entangled, but the experience of the two musicians prevents them from falling into the too obvious influence of Can's Tago Mago (1971). So what to do now? What is there to understand when the cellos cry on this fragment of post-rock without reference? The tapes are altered, sped up, it sways and it dances as if it's inside a schizophrenic brain that can't stop spinning. This record's 35 minutes will just hit you across the head. The music meanders constantly; funk, jazz, rock, all incorporated without an apparent link. The constant pace of ruptures leaves you almost dizzy. But this is not random, the whole is a serious abstract or cubic masterpiece you can't keep your eyes off of in fear of missing a nuance or a sound. And maybe that's it and nothing else: art. The capacity to take someone's gaze and direct it towards an incomprehensible evidence. Personnel: Robert G. Rough - electronics, field recordings, various other instruments; Karol Wojtyla - drums, saxophone. Recorded, mixed, and edited by Robert G. Rough. Edition of 200.LP $16

All Sets at the Old Stone start at 8:30pm Tickets: $20There are no refreshments or merchandise at The Stone. Only music. All ages are welcome.Cash Only at the door. There is no phone. There is no food or beverage served or allowed just a serious listening environment.The Stone is booked purely on a curatorial basis

Saturday, February 17th 8:30 PM Catherine Sikora and guestsSets at 8:30 and 9:30.

Saturday, February 24th 8:30 PM Otto Hauser

I-Beam is located at 168 7th Street in Brooklyn, NY 11215 - Directions: SUBWAY: Take the F or R trains to 4th Ave & 9th Street. Walk down 4th ave to 7th street. Make a left on 7th and walk past 3rd ave. We are located on the ground floor, the grey doors to the right of the stairs of #168.